Spike



W.-GOLDIE.

(No Model.) Y

SPIKE.

No. 259,382. Patented June 13, 1882.

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WILLIAM GOLDIE, OF WEST BAY CITY, MICHIGAN.

SPIKE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 259,382, dated June 13, 1882.

Application filed May 4, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM GoLDIE, of West Bay City, in the county of Bay and State of Michigan, have invented an Improvement in Track-Spikes for Railways, of which the following is a specification.

The nature of this invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in spikes or nails, by means of which when such spikes are driven they will not disintegrate the timber into which they are driven as much as those of ordinary construction, thereby preventing the spike from being easily withdrawn even when driven into softer timber.

In railway-building the increasing scarcity of oak or other proper timber for ties whereon to secure the rails by means of the ordinary spike has given occasion to attempt to utilize cedar ties,in which experience teaches thatthe ordinary spike will not hold. my intention in this specification to describe a spike which, when driven into soft timber, will be withdrawn with greater diffieulty than attends the withdrawal of a spike of the ordinary construction when driven into oak timber.

The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the spike, as more fully hereinafter described.

Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of my improved spike, showing the section of tie into which it has been driven, and split in the line of the now exposed side of the bolt. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same. in the line at w in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, except that the spike shown in this figure is of the ordinary construction. Figs. 1. and 3 show the different operation of the two spikes upon the timber, and the views were made from ties into which the spikes were driven, after which the ties were split on the lines of the spikes.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this description, A represents the head and upper end of my improved spike,

It is therefore (No model.)

which is precisely like the ordinary spike shown in Fig. 3. Below the head and upper end the web or shank B is reduced in thickness, as shown in Fig. 2, the width of the spike being the same its,whole length, or with parallel sides. The reduced shank terminates in a point, a, and corners of this reduced section are provided with flanges b, the outer sides of which are on the same line or plane with the sides of the spike, while the inner sides of these flanges are beveled, as shown in Fig. 2, so that any wood fibers displaced in driving the spike are contracted between the flanges.

In driving the ordinary spike, as shown in Fig. 3, the point cuts the wood fibers, and as it is difficult to compress such fibers endwise the further progress of the spike will turn the ends of the cut fibers downward, as it is easy to compress them in that direction.

In driving my improved spike, the web being comparatively thin, the displacement of the fibers is comparatively less, and as they are compressed between the flanges it makes the timber very firm, and this holds the spike very firmly. The upper end, say, in a railroadspike, for an inch below the head, should be solid and of full size to prevent breaking.

What I claim as my invention is A spike wherein the upper portion, near the head, is square and larger in cross-sections in area than t-helower portion, and provided with a central web, beginning with said large portion and ending in a beveled lower end, said central web being provided on each side with two flanges having their outer sides parallel and their inner sides inclined toward each other and extending outward to the full width of the enlarged portion of the spike, substantially as shown, and for the purpose specified.

WVM. GOLDIE.

\Vitnesses:

H. S. SPRAGUE, E. SoULLY. 

